


Permanence

by Winterstar



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Bottom Tony Stark, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, but not really, evil Ross
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 15:41:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15270753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterstar/pseuds/Winterstar
Summary: News outlets report that posters plastered all over the new capital of Sokovia call for the capture or death of both Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Uprisings around the world and especially in the conservative United States have forced both men to go on the run. At this time no one knows where they are. The UN will vote today on the resolution to name Tony Stark and Steve Rogers war criminals...





	Permanence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [salable_mystic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/salable_mystic/gifts).
  * Inspired by [тражен](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15049805) by [salable_mystic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/salable_mystic/pseuds/salable_mystic). 



> I wanted to get this beautiful piece when I first saw it but thought I couldn't do it justice. I hope I did now. This story is placed post-CA:CW. There is canon divergence in that the events after the explosion at the UN do NOT take place in this verse. Everything following the explosion is different. There's no Zemo and his plot to take down the Avengers. He blew up the UN but nothing else came of it. So erase all that from your brain and go with it, okay?
> 
> Thanks to the wonderful artist salable_mystic for a beautiful piece. Please find it [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15049805)
> 
> BTW I wrote this on my phone so please excuse the typos - I will fix them over time.

CNN: _Sokovia has petitioned the United Nations Security Council to name Iron Man and Captain America, leaders of the Avengers, as war criminals. The destruction of the capital city of Sokovia has thrown the small Baltic nation into chaos. The warring factions have torn the nation apart. If there’s one thing all of the different sides agree upon is that Iron Man and Captain America are war criminals. The moderate government wants to go through legal channels and have the Sokovia Accords play a role. But the populist movement wants both Iron Man and Captain America tried for crimes commented during the Ultron Event. Even though Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, has signed the Accords the populists known as the New Soko, want his head on a platter as well. Several attempts on Tony Stark’s life have caused him to go underground. Posters plastered all over the new capital of Sokovia call for the capture or death of both Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. Uprisings around the world and especially in the conservative United States have forced both men to go on the run. At this time no one knows where they are. The UN will vote today on the resolution to name Tony Stark and Steve Rogers war criminals for their roles in the creation of Ultron and the destruction of a major metropolis and the deaths of its civilians. Let’s go for more on this with our political analyst-_

Steve clicked off the television. He was told it’s more than forty years old. It looked the part – like a piece of junk. He wondered if he looked as a bad. Glancing behind him in the dingy motel room he focused on Tony in the small double bed they’d shared last night. He was splayed out, on his stomach with mouth slightly open, sleeping. The motel room steamed with heat and humidity. The ceiling fan cranked away, squeaking with every rotation. It only served to stir the pot. The sweat glistened on Tony’s bare skin. Not as much as last night as they desperately shed their clothes, kissing and fucking as they did. Steve wasn’t sure if they were in love or just hungry for connection. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore. The world turned in on its self. He hated it. He wanted to just walk up to Ross and turn himself in. Months of running ate away at him but he wouldn’t surrender so easily. Not as long as he had Tony with him. Part of him suspected Tony stayed just because of that fact. Tony didn’t want Steve to end up in an under water prison. But what kind of life was this for them? They’d been heroes once. Now they were the worst kind of outlaws. War criminals. It stung to even hear those words. 

In his day war criminals had a different definition. Not Tony and not him. Surely Steve could have reached out earlier to Tony to assuage his growing paranoia on attacks, before he built a damned killer robot. Would it have done any good? Steve hadn’t acted then and now the Avengers are scattered and they were on the run. Last week they’d almost been caught. As Steve and Tony crouched under an over pass with the stink of the city wafting around them, enough to bring tears to their eyes as Steve covered Tony with his body and hoped the Local police didn’t find them, he’d considered giving himself up. He wanted to make a plea deal. He was sure he could convince Ross that Ultron was his idea, that he instructed Tony to do it. That ultimate blame must be placed with the leader. The Captain must go down with the ship. 

The manhunt for them had intensified when Sokovia sent in the petition. He should say it intensified for him. Until then, the Accords had protected Tony and his team. Once the petition came in all hell broke lose. Sure the assassination of the King of Wakanda had set the whole Accords on a fast track, but little quiet Sokovia stewed in its anger until the riots broke out and fell over their borders. Now it seemed like everyone wanted their heads. Steve barely saved Tony from a mad crowd of angry protesters in Brussels. That had taken place months ago. They’d traveled all over the world, hoping for the best and that saner heads would prevail. From the looks of it and the reports, the resolution was all but signed. Tony would join Steve as a criminal. They fought against one another once now they found succor in one another’s arms. 

He crossed the room and sat on the bed as he remembered their hot embrace. The bed creaked it’s protest and the thin blanket scratched against his bare skin. He glanced down at his own chest. The marks of their night almost faded. He hated that they never stayed for more than a day or so. How he wished to have some permanence. Something forever given to him by Tony. He laid his hand on Tony’s back. Why he thought it should be cool to the touch he couldn’t explain, but it wasn’t. Not in this heat. The idea of the warmth of life draining out of Tony’s body frightened him. He looked to the window – dirty with grease- with its ratty tattered curtains. They had the rest of the day. The sun was three quarters to the horizon. Maybe they had enough time. 

The tension in Steve’s hand must have awakened Tony because he rolled over and blinked at him. “Hey.” His voice was thick with sleep. 

“Hey to you.” Steve couldn’t help but smile. Their time together had always been rushed and hurried and somewhat more meaningful because of it. Now they had some time – a little bit. He wanted to make love to Tony but he wasn’t sure that’s what they were, not at all. They’d never talked about it. They’d fallen into bed and each other’s arms at first as a needy yearning to connect and then as a desperate attempt to feel something other than loss. Now as he looked down at Tony the stirring in his body had nothing to do with physicality. 

“Is it time to go already?” Tony said as he rubbed a hand down his face trying to wipe the exhaustion of their life on the run away. It wasn’t so easy. It stained like their sweat on the sheets. 

“Not yet. We have a lot of time.” Steve waited. He wanted to stare at Tony, memorize every detail of his face, the color of his eyes, the lines of worry, the purse of his lips. Yet instead, he kept visualizing the parking lot beyond the window and the shadows lurking there.

Tony turned over and lifted a hand to Steve’s face. His palm held calluses and his fingertips rough with work. Steve ached when he thought of those fingers strumming over his abdomen, taking him in hand as he hardened, as he came. A tear threatened, and Steve tore his focus away from the outside world and back to Tony. He smiled though he was sure it wouldn’t reach his eyes. It had been too long and too hard for them to enjoy things so easily now. 

“You’re worried,” Tony said. His voice was rough from too little sleep and too little sustenance. When Steve saw Tony’s lean body, which tilted a little too much toward thin, he felt another kind of guilt. Maybe he should have left well enough alone. Maybe he shouldn’t have hustled Tony away, saved him from the penalties of trying to do good. 

“I’m always worried,” Steve said. “I grew up in the Great Depression, it’s kind of a thing.” 

“What was so great about it,” Tony replied – it was his rote response. One he must have said a thousand times. He used it to elicit a smile and a chuckle from Steve. This time, Steve only stayed quiet. Tony shuttled up a little on the bed and the box spring whined at him. “What is it?”

“You,” Steve said and ran a hand down his rib cage – so much more prominent than before this crazy life on the run. “You can’t do this anymore.”

“And you’re any better than me?” Tony asked and shook his head. “We’re not talking about this. I’m not leaving you.”

“I know,” Steve said and this time he did smile because he knew Tony’s convictions. Like a dog with a bone he would never relent, never let it go. “I’m not asking you to.” He paused and gave Tony the smile he sought. “Just let me have you one more time.”

Even Tony blushed every once in a while. He raised an eyebrow and said, “I never knew anyone else who was fucking horny when they were melancholy.”

“Well, you never knew anyone like me,” Steve retorted, leaning down over Tony. He nudged at Tony’s neck, nuzzling and licking. “Come on, Tony. Please.”

“You already had me last night,” Tony whispered but he eased back as Steve laid down on top of him. 

Steve licked a line, dragging his tongue up to Tony’s sensitive earlobe. “You know what I want. Please.”

“You are incorrigible.” Tony didn’t stop him, but instead open his legs as Steve fitted himself along the contorts of Tony’s body. 

They fit so well. Who would have thought during those time that they fought that they were like lock and key. Made for one another. They wasted so much time trying to one up one another. All those years fighting and grappling to be top dog. For no other reason than to impress each other. Though neither one of them would ever admit that. Steve didn’t care, not now. Not when the world around them turned a blind eye to justice and clamped down on individual freedoms. They still had their bouts. Tony still believed in the essence of the Accords while Steve questioned the ability to trust the men and women behind them. Tony always mocked him about what a doubting jerk he could be and Steve always hissed at Tony about the turnabout in his attitude toward government oversight. Neither of them ever won the battle. Neither of them could hope to win the war, because the war was not between the two of them but it was the machinations of greater processes determined to change the way and the purpose of the Avengers and other enhanced individuals. 

They abandoned the contest, the fight, and left it behind as they found themselves on the other end of a barrel gunning for both of them. Steve was a fugitive because he refused to sign the Accords and couldn’t stand idly by and retire when so much needed to be done in the world. Tony was a fugitive because he signed the Accords and couldn’t stop trying to help the world when the glacial processes of an international organization couldn’t keep up. And yes, the whole Sokovia declaration to the UN. That sealed the deal for both of them. Posters littered the streets – Wanted Alive or Dead. This was their life now. Small, contained, controlled – yet at the same time hurried, crazed, and dangerous. 

Steve wanted more, he wanted to pretend as he kissed Tony that they were back in the Avengers compound, in his room. That the first light of the morning dappled across Tony’s skin with a fine glow. He wanted to imagine how it would be as he kissed Tony and Tony moaned – like he always did. So softly at first and then so needy as Steve lingered. They broke their kiss, then and Tony looked up at Steve, his hands braced against his arms.

“Yes, god damn it, yes. You fuck me and make me feel it. You understand? You do it, good,” Tony demanded. Direct, commanding – that was Tony through and through. Tony was never the damsel in distress. He might shudder at the horror he experienced; he might turn away and shun the memories, but Tony stood his ground. Tony believed in himself – and maybe that was his biggest fault. He believed that Ultron had been a good thing, a good avenue to protect and keep the world safe. All his intents were good. He never saw the fault lines beneath the surface, because he couldn’t. The idea, the origin had been from Tony’s brilliance so how could he doubt it?

“Now, I said, now!” Tony said and grabbed Steve’s neck to pull him into a brutal, breathtaking kiss. It ripped the heart of Steve, terrorized him, but built in him the strength and power to continue the struggle, the fight they had no other choice but to stand up to and continue. Tony pulled Steve away but then grasped him again and ravaged his throat as if the devoured him flesh and soul. Steve groaned in response and his whole body answered the call. He quaked with desire and took control of Tony. Pushing his hands away, he held Tony’s wrists above his head and then dived down to hungrily taste the salt of his skin, the heat of his nipples, and the shudder of his abdominals. 

Tony moaned and arched into Steve’s mouth. The motion, the reaction set Steve on fire. He loved the fact that Tony responded to his touch, that he longed for his kiss. Tony squirmed beneath him, trying to get his arms free, but Steve stilled him with a long nip to his nipple, teasing and pulling as he did. The taste of Tony’s skin, salty mixed with the bitterness of yesterday’s fuck, tingled across Steve’s tongue, brought him to need more of Tony. He wanted this to last but he knew they had little time. He wanted to remember every sensation. Sitting up, Steve released Tony’s hands as he reached for the lube and the condom. Tony stared up at him, joyful and yearning. It felt so right and stabbed Steve straight through his heart. He couldn’t look at Tony, not in his face, not to see those eyes that once accused him trust him now. 

Steve sidled off of Tony. “Flip over.”

At first Tony crinkled his face into a frown but then he relaxed and laughed. “You’re so transparent, Rogers. Always gotta be the Captain? Okay then.” He lifted an eyebrow. “How about you show me who’s boss?” He winked and then flipped over onto his abdomen. 

Part of Steve twisted, his gut sickened at his duplicity. As Tony raised his ass Steve placed a hand on it, trying to find some secret comfort that he wasn’t betraying everything and everyone. He caressed the fine curve of Tony’s ass, brushed fingers over his sac as Tony groaned against his touch. 

“Come on, babe, you gonna do me or just take a picture?” 

It was playful and in a way Steve took it as loving. But were they in love or just finding solace in a world gone mad? Steve curled his hand into a ball and clenched his jaw. With his other hand he slapped Tony’s ass and the response was immediate. Tony moaned out and panted. 

“God, babe, you do that again I might not last.”

It seemed like a challenge to Steve so he addressed it. He stepped up to it and slapped Tony three more times in rapid succession. Tony rocked into every stroke and Steve hardened until he ached with pain. The olive skin tone of Tony’s ass turned hot crimson and Steve had to stop and hold the base of his own cock so he wouldn’t come in that moment. Tony gasped and turned to look over his shoulder. 

“Fuck, Rogers, don’t you dare jerk off. Fuck me now!” Tony always did that, never called him Steve when they had sex. It depersonalized it, separated them in a way. Steve should be grateful for it. They weren’t boyfriends. They were fuck buddies racing the clock until they were caught. He glanced out the window for a moment and then Tony whined at him bringing his attention back. 

“You need a good fuck, Stark. You need me to fucking pound you into submission,” Steve replied, his voice ragged with want and pain. He refused to acknowledge the sharp edge that hurt every time he thought of Tony. Instead he reached for the lube, squirting out some onto his fingers. 

“You can try, Rogers. You can try,” Tony mused and grunted as Steve slipped two fingers into his ass. It sent a shiver of anticipation through Steve as he watched his two fingers easily penetrate Tony’s ass. 

“So fucking open for me already. Last night really did you in. You can’t deny it, Stark. You’re a slut for me,” Steve said and he hated it. He wanted to say other things, loving things but they weren’t lovers. They were something different, grasping one another in a last ditch effort to hold onto life and all the beauty it could offer. “Just gonna fuck you now.” 

He pulled out his fingers and Tony whimpered and presented his ass to Steve wanting more. Steve slipped the condom on, added a bit more lube because he always tried to be considerate, and pushed in. It felt heady and overwhelming and the room popped around him and faded into the distance. 

God, how he loved Tony. 

He bit his tongue and forced himself not to make declarations that would ruin everything. This thing they had could wreck him. But not Tony. Never Tony. He never wanted to hurt Tony in that way, so he vowed to swallow down the hurt. He forced himself to concentrate on just the touch and feel. Let himself be the animal underneath the uniform. His want consumed him. How he longed for Tony to be his, how he lusted for Tony. How he wanted to possess him. He pounded forward, thrusting with unbridled power. Tony met him stroke for stroke while crying out and urging Steve, asking him for more. 

“Harder. God damn you, harder. Fuck me harder,” Tony yelled out and then moaned loud and unchecked. 

Steve growled in response. The desire that had crept into his soul burst out and he slammed into Tony. The heat enveloped him and he grabbed Tony, forcing him up on his knees. Steve sucked his throat, kissing and biting until Tony sobbed for release. Still, Steve didn’t relent. He dropped Tony back onto all fours. Banished the need to see Tony’s face, to look into those eyes and pretend to see love. How he wanted to see it there, but he wouldn’t allow himself to look. He focused on the sensations rippling through him. The warm heat of Tony around his cock, the sound of Tony’s moaning pants. It gathered the storm of need inside of Steve until he was grimacing and fighting to hold on. He wanted it to last. Reaching around he grasped Tony’s cock and pumped it until he was burning with brilliant fire. Tony cried out again, his voice a strained sob of desire. The sound jarred Steve and he picked up the pace until Tony stilled and then with a snap of his hips came over Steve’s hand. The hot come against his flesh jolted through Steve until it coiled hard and tight like a fist. He rode through it until it couldn’t be contained, until he pitched forward and screamed out. His hips jerked once, then again, and then he thrust one last time as the room whited out and he spilled out his release. 

He shuddered and felt Tony quake beneath him as they came down from their high. Steve opened eyes he hadn’t known he’d closed. He gasped to try and capture his breath again and Tony whimpered. Steve hadn’t realized how he gripped Tony’s hip and when he opened his hand he saw the bruises that would be left. He petted them and wanted to kiss them. Pulling out he laid down next to Tony. The sweat mixed with musk lingered in the room. The old ceiling fan cranked out it’s useless warm stream of air. He held onto Tony, wrapped him in arms and tried not to think of how the days would end. He stared straight out to the window. His need to tell Tony, to confess his love drove him and he bit back his words. He couldn’t do that. Not now. 

And then he saw it. The glint in the windows he’d been waiting for all this time. Time betrayed him. Instead of mustering the courage to say the words that tore his soul in two, Steve struggled away from Tony’s embrace. As he stood and scooped up his pants – leaving the underwear wherever they’d fallen last night- Steve directed, “Get dressed. Get dressed, now!”

Tony furrowed his brows in puzzlement and then switched around and searched for some sign out the window. Nothing was there. Not for Tony to see. “What?” He reaches out as if pawing the empty space for Steve. “We got time. Not even twilight yet. It’s just sunset.”

“Exactly.” Steve bent down and threw Tony’s jeans at him. “Get dressed.” He’d been stupid. They dallied and they shouldn’t have. There was no time left. He’d wanted to steal time from the future but as a man out of time he should have known better. “Get dressed,” he commanded. 

Tony picked up the jeans from his lap and shook his head. “What’s goin-.”

The door burst opened and then soldiers dressed in black surrounded them in the small motel room. Assault rifles aimed at them and they were helpless, defenseless. Tony was fucking naked. Steve saw the twitch as if Tony might call what was left of his armor to him, but he put up his arms in surrender. “Tony, don’t. It’s over.” He folded his hands behind his head and went to his knees. 

“What the fuck? Rogers? Steve?” Tony’s voice strained as a heavily armed soldier went to the side of the bed while another one yanked Steve’s arms down and locked them in thick cuffs. As Tony protested, the sound of expensive shoes – not combat boots – echoed on the pavement directly outside of the room. 

Ross came in with a sardonic smile on his face and cold death in his eyes. He examined the room and sniffed. “Christ. Get the fuck dressed, Stark. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

Tony slipped off the bed and put on his pants all the while never taking his eyes off Steve. It was now or never and still Steve couldn’t bring the words to his lips. He chose the coward’s way out. “I made a deal. Tony don’t fight them.”

“A deal? What fucking deal?” He quaked as he stood there. Not on his knees. Not bending over and taking it. Not kowtowing to anyone. He’d never taken it from anyone but Steve. “What are you fucking saying, Rogers?” The hysteria in his eyes shot through Steve, left him hollow and shaken. It was the right thing to do. No one would ever make Steve believe differently. He always tried to do the right thing. 

Ross answered, “He’s not saying anything. Not anymore.” He nodded to the soldier standing behind Steve. In seconds a gag, not unlike the one they’d once used on Loki was forced into Steve’s mouth. He threw his head back, fighting it but Ross reminded him. “It’s up to you Captain. I could get out a second pair of cuffs.” Steve settled and let the soldier lock him in the mouth restraint. Ross smiled and he looked like a snake. “That’s all better now. Don’t want one of those rousing Captain America speeches now do we?” 

Shirtless, Tony walked over to Steve. He eyed the automatic assault rifles all pointed at Steve’s head. “God, what did you do? You fucking ass. We were ahead of the game. We were almost home free. I told you about the place we could go. No one would have found us. What the fuck did you have to screw it all up for?” 

Steve only stared at the prominence of Tony’s ribs. How thin and fragile he’d gotten over the months they’d been together. Even if he never saw Tony again – and the thought of the send spears of anxiety and utter loneliness through him – Steve knew he’d done the right thing. Making a deal with the devil that could save Tony was worth it. His sunken cheeks, the outline of his wrecked sternum from the removed arc reactor, how his hip bones jetted out in angles all confirmed Steve’s decision. 

“Now, now Stark. Your boyfriend here did the right thing. He gave up his freedom and he sold himself for you. You don’t go to a military tribunal. You don’t get sentenced to life in the Raft prison – and yes the verdict has already been handed down with the defendant in absentia.” Ross bowed his head as he studied Steve. “Such a noble gesture for such a disgusting human being.” He scoffed. “Well, we can at least throw him in the Raft, you.” He looked up at Tony. “You and your perverted ways get to go free.”

“No,” Tony stated and stood up straight. It only proved to emphasize his malnourishment. 

Ross smirked. “You know he said that. He said you would refuse. And then he gave me another little piece of information to demonstrate to you how he was using you all along and he lied. Like they all do.”

Tony glared at the Secretary. His resolute spirit wouldn’t be broken, but Steve had played his ace and knew in seconds if Tony had ever loved him it would wither and die once it was revealed. 

Secretary Ross snickered. “He told me that he knew all along who killed your parents. Yes. He knew. Yes, he hid it from you because it was his buddy, his pal, hell now that I look around and take a good whiff, maybe even another pervert. His pal the Winter Soldier killed your parents. Snapped your mother’s neck.” 

The sound around Steve funneled to a fine whistle as he listened to Ross draw the last card he’d given him. He never wanted to face the fact that Bucky may have killed Tony’s parents. He knew in his heart that Bucky wasn’t responsible – no sane person would consider a prison of war that underwent massive brainwashing responsible for any actions. But the shock of it, the shock of it would crush Tony. It sundered every shred of Steve’s reputation that he’d kept it from Tony. It would cause Tony to walk away, to take Ross’ side and accept the bargain. 

The slap across the face surprised Steve. His head snapped to the side and his temple and upper cheek stung with the pain. Tears welled in his eyes as he fought to remain impassive. Tony believed Ross – that hurt a little too much. He hadn’t even questioned the Secretary. He reacted and took out his pain and helplessness on Steve. Even as Tony stood over him, condemning him with a look of such repugnance it turned his stomach, Steve mourned the memories from only moments before when they’d held one another and he had toyed with confessing his love to Tony. But this was what was needed. He had decided that he needed to save Tony, whatever the price. 

“You fucking bastard,” Tony spat. “You fucking knew and never told me.” His eyes welled with tears that rolled down his too thin face. He stopped his words, an onslaught that would hurt more than the slap. He glanced at Ross and then back at Steve. “You used me. You can rot in prison, an underwater prison where you deserve to be. They should have left you frozen in the ocean, dead to the world for all time.” Tony met Ross’ gaze. “Whatever the bargain, I accept. And I plan to help you find his friend and bring him down.” 

Ross smiled. “Just what I’d hoped.” He signaled to the troops. “Take him away. Lock him in the Hulk transport. Keep him restrained at all times.”

The Sergeant nodded and they jostled Steve to his feet. He only wanted one more glance at Tony, one more look before the waters of the prison took him away. He peered at Tony over his shoulder, but the sun from the window cast him in silhouette and Steve only glimpsed a shadow of the past.

CNN: _A source in the State Department has informed CNN that Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America, has been captured and sentence to life in the Raft prison. He was tried in absentia in a military tribunal that found him guilty of treason and murder. When CNN asked for clarification of the treason and murder charges the source stated that ‘Captain Rogers confessed that he was in charge of the Avengers and forced Tony Stark to design and construct Ultron. The treason charges are based on the fact that Captain Rogers betrayed the United States government by ordering the construction of an AI that also served as a weapon of mass destruction. This same weapon was used to wage war on Sokovia, an ally of the United States at the time.’ In addition to information on Steve Rogers, CNN has also learned that Tony Stark had been abducted by Captain Rogers to further his plans to destroy the United States government. As you can see in this footage, Stark was found and taken into custody. His physical health had deteriorated because Steve Rogers refused allow Stark enough food. For seven months, Tony Stark – a billionaire and brilliant engineer – endured deprivation and torture at the hands of a madman according the Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross. Several sources close to CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts, Tony Stark is resting comfortably and is recovering well._

In related news Sokovia has requested that its petition to name Tony Stark a war criminal be removed from the docket. 

The ocean waves tossed in turmoil below the helicopter as Tony waited for the Raft prison to emerge from the depths of its cold hell. It was winter in the United States and the Northern Atlantic Ocean promised no mercy. Tony shivered as he glanced down at the gray and black waves, nothing like the blue green ocean of the Caribbean. He hated the dark ocean below them, he hated the idea of what was underneath the ocean even more. Tony watched as the prison arose from the depths like a great sea monster. He settled back in his seat as the automated helicopter battled the winds. The churning ocean splashed and rolled beneath them, but the waters fell away, and the landing bay appeared. 

It had been five weeks. Five weeks since he received a punch to the gut and his life twisted around and contorted into this new hell he lived. When Steve had ‘rescued’ him from being taken into custody almost a year ago now and they went on their seven-month jaunt around the world, avoiding the different factions chasing them, Tony never brokered what he would get in the end. He never saw Steve as his savior, but he had seen him as a friend, a good one. Maybe even something more. He’d wanted it to be more. He imagined it was- so many times- when they were hiding in alley ways, sneaking food in small cafes in the strangest villages and towns throughout the world. He experienced a different way of life with Steve, but what he saw had been a realism he’d never expected. 

Sure, the sex was phenomenal, but the little moments brought more to him. The moments where he watched Steve sleep after a long trek through a mountainous landscape as they tried to evade the worldwide manhunt for them. The moments when they’d sip tea in the dusty markets of the Middle East, or when they would find some place quiet and just tear off bread from a loaf and chew. It was thick in his mouth and dry, but delicious all the same. Hunger would do that to you. He would smile at Steve when he wasn’t looking, when he was on alert, when he was the sentinel guarding Tony – searching for the danger that would end all of their moments together. 

It had been Steve, himself, who ended Tony’s fantasies. It had been a fantasy, all of it. The heat of shame warmed his face as the images came to mind. The way Tony would beg Steve, pull him in and open himself for Steve, offer everything, every fiber of his being for Steve. The first time had been hurried and dangerous. They’d dodged another manhunt, huddled down in an alley way in a backstreet in Warsaw, Poland. Luckily the local law enforcement wasn’t cooperating with the international forces and that slowed everyone down as the maneuvers of bureaucracy creaked and groaned the hunt to a halt. They laughed as they waited and then their hands touched as their foreheads came together. Their breathes were hurried and their bodies shook with adrenalin. He still couldn’t remember who moved first but then he found himself wrapped in a kiss and starving for more. The air around them thick with humidity, they grappled, shoving waist bands aside, and wrapped hands around each other’s cocks without even asking. It was a mutual understanding, a comprehension that needed no words. Steve’s callus hand rubbed and stroked him, and Tony only wanted more. He craved it more than he wished for food to fill his belly. Even as he watched his ribs appear, the ugly scar where the arc reactor had been grow more noticeable, Tony scrambled for Steve’s touch - his hot thick cock in his hand, in Tony’s mouth, in his ass. He should have been embarrassed by his wanton selfish needs, but he never denied himself. Steve always gave. 

Tony surrendered himself to the thought of Steve, to the hope of Steve. He gave over his body and soul to Steve. And now? Now what did he have been an emptiness that reverberated in his head over and again like some kind of klaxon ringing his doom. The helicopter landed as he wiped away the memories of what had been and really hadn’t been apparently. He thought they were falling in love. He relived his youth in Steve’s hands. But in truth, maybe what Ross fed to the media outlets possessed some morsel of the truth. Yet, Tony couldn’t bring himself to believe any of it. Steve Rogers wasn’t a traitor. Tony knew for a fact, he’d built Ultron of his own volition. He wanted to find a way to protect the world. The Iron Legion hadn’t been enough, the Iron Man armor hadn’t been enough. So he took the scepter and he used the stone from inside of it and forged a new intelligence. He brought Frankenstein’s monster to life. It went on a rampage that murdered people. If anyone was responsible, then it was Tony. But the United States convinced Sokovia to only hold Captain America responsible. The United States promised aid and money to the stricken nation while Steve Rogers rotted in a prison under the icy waters of the Atlantic. 

In all the media outlets, Tony rejoiced. He turned away from answering questions about Steve, and instead talked about the newly forged alliance that came of the Ultron horror. When reporters grilled Tony about the fact that Steve Rogers’ best friend murdered his parents (of course, Ross let that leak), he quieted and nodded. He told only his closest friends about the heart break, about how his childhood idol lied to him and never confessed that the Winter Soldier, also known as Bucky Barnes, assassinated his mother and father one Christmas season in the early 90s. 

Yet, something sat uncomfortably in the pit of Tony’s stomach like he purposefully swallowed thorns and brambles. He tried to believe all of what Ross fed him, tried to ignore that smarmy smile. He listened to the President extol the virtues of his Secretary of State when he’d been invited to a White House luncheon. He attended the meetings with both Ross and the Secretary of Defense as they planned how the new Avengers would operate under their fat thumbs. He sat numb and stared into space as memories flashed by him. Touches and caresses. A light hand on his shoulder to quell the nightmares that haunted him. He longed for that intimacy and he wondered if he was just fucked up so terribly in the head that he couldn’t parse a healthy relationship from an abusive one. And so, Tony Stark set in motion his own kind of therapy.

He studied. He investigated and evaluated. He went through all of the old SHIELD files dumped on the web that at one time he directed JARVIS to categorize and analyze. It had been his own mistake that he never followed up. He narrowed his inquiry not to his parents – he already knew exactly what happened to his mother and father because Ross was kind enough to dig up an old surveillance tape and show it to him. Lucky that an isolated road in the middle of nowhere had a camera to record his parents’ deaths. His analyses centered on the Winter Soldier himself. Not as his original persona, not at first. He worked his way backwards, from the Winter Soldier at his deadliest to the man who would become the ghost assassin of the 20th and 21st centuries. Little these days impressed Tony, but what he read, what he discovered shook his perception of the world. The fact that Hydra as SHIELD tortured and manipulated a good man and soldier into a killing machine terrified Tony. How much didn’t they know about SHIELD? How much did SHIELD do that changed the world they lived in all those years when Hydra controlled it? 

It became very clear to Tony how SHIELD managed to have a recording of his parents’ death. Sure, the Winter Soldier may have been controlled by the Soviets at the time but Hydra persisted all over the globe. The Soviet Union was no except. The United States was no exception. Hydra in SHIELD and Hydra in the KGB was one in the same. Who Tony held ultimately responsible for the assassination of his parents boiled down to hard truths. 

Truths he had to face now. 

The helicopter rotors slowed, and his seat unbuckled. He ducked as he exited the craft in the landing bay of the Raft prison. The roof above him closed and the gigantic underwater prison groaned as it began to submerge again. He frowned but then spotted Ross standing at the ramp way with a guard contingency. He looked smug, the asshole. As Tony approached the ramp way, Ross opened his arms as if he welcomed home the prodigal son. 

“Tony, so good to see you.” There was nothing Tony hated more than false sincerity, but he faked a smile in return. 

“As you know always a pleasure.” Lying never felt right on his tongue. Tasted like old burnt coffee. He sauntered around Ross, knocked one of the guards on the shoulder with his knuckles and added, “Aw, look at that a craptastic gun based on Hammer technology. Be careful might explode in your hands.”

Ross seized the moment. “We wouldn’t have to settle for second rate if Stark Industries got back in the game.”

“I’ve already privatized world peace, don’t think I want to branch out to the prison game.” He surveyed the area. The landing bay was broad and well guarded. It looked safe. 

Ross slung an arm over Tony’s shoulder and smiled that weaselly grin. “Come on now, Tony, don’t be like that. This monstrosity is your design. Look at it. It’s a grand achievement. You have advanced our ability to control enhanced individuals. Without you and the Accords the world would be at the mercy of science. We’d have to bend a knee for the intellectual elite. We don’t want that, and you secured the future with this design!” He gestured widely to the prison around them. 

Tony ignored the rapidity of his heart, the roar in his ears, the churning of his stomach. “So how many inmates so far?” He heard himself asking. 

Ross shrugged. “Only one. But we’ll get the rest of the team. They either agree to the Accords and the tracking device or they end up here. No questions.”

“Seems clean.” Like a dictatorship, Tony wanted to add but ate the words. “Now can we stop with the house tour? And why are you here anyway?”

Ross chuckled. “Oh, I would never miss my favorite defender of the world coming to interrogate our prisoner.”

That answered that concern. Clearly, Ross didn’t trust him with Rogers. “I’m just here to get a lead on Barnes. I plan to find him, and I plan to kill him slowly and with prejudice.”

“Well I didn’t hear that last part, but you’re welcome to try. He’s a block as far as breaking. Even bleeding him doesn’t do a damned thing. He just sits there and glares.” Ross led him into the bowels of the underwater prison. 

“Bleeding?” Tony asked, but he already knew the answer. He suspected they might want to experiment, figure out what made the serum in Rogers’ blood work while other attempts always ended up a little more insane than anyone wanted to admit. Funny that, considering Ross and his cronies spewed lies about how Cap was a madman bent on world domination. 

“Well we need to know what makes him tick. I couldn’t say no to the researchers about the serum now could I?” Ross guided Tony through the command center, never stopping to show him around the stations, but it wasn’t like Tony needed to know any of it. Most of the tech here, except for the weapons they carried, was Stark tech. “Now, remember to share Tony. That’s part of the deal. Otherwise, you might end up here, too.” Ross hit the door switch and it automatically lifted to reveal a circular cage unit. The design was efficient, secure, and brutal. Tony had imagined locking Chitauri or other aliens in the prison, not Avengers and not fucking Captain America. 

“Have at it,” Ross said and gave Tony a little nudge. He tripped into the vestibule space of the prison. Each cell or cage was dark except for one on the far right. He peered over his shoulder at Ross who simply waved, and the door shut.

Tony walked over to the lit cell, his booted feet making a clanging noise as he did. It vibrated through the vestibule. Tony had designed it, so it would make noise when a guard approached, to intimidate the inmates. He knew a little about being a prisoner. 

As he went to the illuminated cage, Tony made out the figure sitting on a gray bench. There was literally nothing but the bench and a toilet in the room. No blankets, no books. Nothing. When he got closer he stifled a gasp. Steve. 

Shit. 

They’d shaved his beard and his head. Only a fine stubble of hair outlined his scalp. He wore the mouth guard and Tony wondered how many people he bit during his stay here. Bruises marked his arms, but it looked more like needle lines than the result of fights. He looked a lot like a heroin addict. His wrists were chained to his waist and he couldn’t raise his arms higher than his navel which was in plain sight because he was shirtless. Attached to a belt around his waist was a contraption that looked remarkably like a gastric feeding apparatus his company designed. It whirred as Steve stood up and shuffled to the front of his cell. He had chains linking his ankles. Thankfully they allowed him pants, but his feet were bare. When he approached the grate of the cell bars a red warning light came on and he stopped. Tony noticed the toilet was shut with a timer on it. Apparently, there was a toilet schedule too. He grimaced. 

Calling to the eye and ear in the ceiling, Tony said, “Can’t talk to him with the mouth guard on, now can I?” 

Immediately three brawny guards marched into the prison vestibule. Tony estimated that Captain America in his prime could easily take them, but now it would be a toss up. They went straight for the prison cell, keyed in the code, did retinal scans, and then the door opened as they hit their bully clubs on the door frame. Steve stepped back to the corner with his face pressed up against the wall. One of the guards held the club at waist level on Steve and Tony glimpsed the switch that would activate it to shock. Another guard pointed his Glock at the back of Steve’s head where Tony recognized a black and blue along his scalp. The third guard unlocked the mouth guard and yanked it out. 

“Open,” the guard commanded. 

Steve turned slightly so the guard could point his flashlight into Steve’s mouth. He scanned it and then pulled out a water bottle, squeezed some of the water into Steve’s mouth and then said, “Close and swallow.”

Steve followed the direction and then the same guard snapped on a shock collar. He activated it and then said, “Keep it together Captain and I’ll see if I can get you some chapped stick for your lips.”

Steve nodded. “Thank you.” His voice rasped, barely above a whisper. 

The guard grasped his shoulder and then turned to his fellow guards. “Let’s go.” The guards backed out of the cell, still aiming weapons on Steve and then secured the cell again. The lead guard turned to Tony. “He’s only allowed fifteen minutes without the mouth guard a day. Don’t take long.” They left then as Tony turned to watch them go. 

Shit. Shit. Shit. 

Tony lifted his eyes to Steve. Below the paleness of his skin, the dark circles around his eyes, the thinness of his muscles, Tony caught the glare of his power beneath in the glint of his eyes. “Why are you letting them treat you like this?”

Steve licked his chapped and cracked lips. “It’s part of-.” He coughed, and tears came to his eyes. “The deal.”

“Fuck that. I don’t accept it. Fuck it.” Tony looked at his watch. “We have 15 minutes for you to tell my why you did it.” 

Steve stared at him, a question in his eyes. 

“Don’t look at me like you’re a dope. God,” Tony said and then spun around on his heel. He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “You look like shit. Is that how they're feeding you?” He indicated the gastric feeding device and then he pointed to the toilet. “And what you have a shit schedule. This is how you want to live your life? Oh and you want to know what’s going on in the world, what they’re saying about you? They’re crucifying you out there. Saying you committed treason and are a madman. Jesus.”

Steve looked away from Tony. “I did what I had to do.”

Tony stepped closer, but an alarm sounded and one of the guards spoke over the intercom. “Don’t stand beyond the yellow line.”

Tony looked at the floor to see a line painted in front of the cell. It was about a half meter from the bars. He huffed but stepped back. “Jesus. No one makes decisions about my life but me. Get that.”

“You were starving.” 

“And what about you with your shaved head and druggy lines on your arms. You’re not dying here?” Tony asked and saw something flit over Steve’s expression. “Oh, so you figure you won’t last anyway. It doesn’t matter. Well it damn well matters to me. I love you, you fucking idiot.”

Steve’s attention snapped to Tony and the blatant pain and love had never been so evident to Tony as it was in that moment. He may have thought they were just fuck buddies, but the truth stared him in the face. No. Neither one of them admitted it when they should have. What fucking idiots they both were. The love, the yearning, the whole reason Steve did what he did. It was there. They were fucking idiots.

Tony peered at his watch again. Ten minutes. He hit the face of the watch and waited until it gave him the signal. “We have a limited time now. They can’t hear us. Their surveillance is down. Tell me you can break those chains.”

Steve studied him for a moment before he nodded. “The shock collar is the problem.”

“No, it’s not.” Tony smiled. “This is all my tech. And like any good programmer I always have a back door.”

Steve didn’t crack a smile or move. “What about your parents?”

“We’ll talk about your lack of faith in me once we get out of this fucked up situation.” He lifted the watch to his mouth. “Friday lock down protocol 32-1.” 

“Got it, boss.” 

“Tony,” Steve said and shuffled perilously close to the alert line in his cage. “You can’t do this.” He glanced around the empty vestibule. 

Tony hissed. “I can, and I will.” He hit the watch icon again and the chains fell free of wrists, waist, and ankles. “See you didn’t even need to break them. Stupid bastards didn’t even change my codes. Oh and I want to tell you that it disturbs me how you love to be a martyr. We’ll talk about that once we get out of here as well.”

Steve lifted his hands and went to the gastric feeding pack. “This isn’t safe. If you help me escape, you’ll be on the run again.”

“No shit Sherlock. But if you haven’t heard I love you and from the way you look at me now I can tell you love me too.” He raised a finger to Steve. “Don’t try and deny it. Hurry up. Get over here I’m going to blow the lock.”

“How is this any better than before?” Steve said as the gastric pump dropped to the floor and he placed a hand over the bloody hole near his navel. “That stings.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “You’re a mess. In one month look at you! I spent the month researching your neighborhood assassin the Winter Soldier, and I also implanted this-.” He tugged open his shirt to reveal the nanites embedded in his chest where the arc reactor used to reside. He watched as Steve halted and shook his head. 

“Tony what did you do? No. What did you do?” The distress in his whispered voice went right to Tony’s gut. Of course, the man who sacrificed everything would never consider that the rest of the world, that his lover would go to the ends of the Earth to save him. 

“I did what had to be done. Same as you. Now stand back,” He ordered, his voice firm and enough to startle Steve back into the corner of the cell. They’d deal with his PTSD later. He spoke to the watch again. “Friday blow the cage door in front of me.” 

“Step back, boss.” 

A small pop and the mechanism crackled and then the door opened. Tony waved for Steve to exit. Close up Steve looked worse than Tony thought. The obvious signs of abuse were there and the harvesting of the serum clear as well. Bruises traced his ribs which stuck out far too much. The trickle of blood from the port used to supply him food ran down his hand. As he stepped through the door the shock collar went off and Steve collapsed to his knees, grimacing through the pain. Tony pulled out his key pin made of aluminum and push it into the lock. The collar fell away, and Steve took a strangled breath. 

“Come on. Five minutes and counting.” Tony hustled Steve to his feet and, grabbing his elbow, ushered him toward the cell block door. “Friday open cell block door 1138.” 

Steve grumbled and kept a hand pressed to his navel. “I recognize that reference, you know.” 

Tony screwed up his face and arched a brow. “Of course, you would. Friday?” 

“On it boss. You have exactly 3 minutes to get to the landing bay. I’m raising the prison now. There are six guards in the bay and four in the corridor outside the bay.” 

“Once we get out of the prison cell block, have Friday sound the alarm. If we can find a different route we can avoid them,” Steve said. He licked his dry lips and coughed several times. It didn’t escape Tony’s notice that it sounded thick with phlegm. Just what did you have to do to a super soldier to cause fluid build up in his lungs?

“Hear that Friday? Is it a possibility?” Tony asked as he gripped Steve’s arm. It felt too skinny, too small. Tony slipped his shoulder under Steve’s even as the other man protested. 

“I can get you there. Might be tricky with the chaos of an alarm, boss.” 

Tony pulled off his glasses and tucked them in his pocket. “Do it.”

As they exited the prison cell block the alarm sounded, screaming out a prison break. Tony tapped his chest and the armor nanites emerged, crawling and building at the same time. Steve startled away from him but as soon as Tony’s upper torso and arm were covered, he grabbed Steve and drew him in close. 

As he directed Steve through the maze of the Raft, the armor finished its shell around him. It enabled Tony to speak with Friday without accessing his watch. “Show me the route.” 

On the HUD, the route appeared. It didn’t look too difficult and, even though Steve still had an open wound, he looked sound enough to make a run for it. He pulled Steve into a shadowed alcove and then pointed his closed fist at the wound. “Take your hand away.”

In a raspy voice, Steve replied, “I don’t think I really need it cauterized.”

Tony scoffed. “Don’t be barbaric. Just do as I say.”

Steve lifted his hand and revealed the bored hole. 

“Nice.” Tony cringed but directed Friday to stream the nanites to the wound. Steve flinched in response but Tony stayed him with his other hand on his hip. The bones were too obvious, and Tony hated the idea that Steve had suffered while he’d been cared for and recovered from their life on the run. But now they were going to flee again, only this time Tony was prepared. Far more prepared than he had been the first time around. This time he had his plans. The nanites filled the wound. “The nanites will help the serum to speed up the process. I doubt the serum is working at one hundred percent, especially since you look like you’ve been the meal for a conclave of vampires over the last month.”

Once he finished, Tony stood up and the faceplate peeled back. “God, Steve, you don’t know what it felt like to see them take you away.”

Steve swallowed hard and the hollow of his eyes grayed and seemed more distant. It felt like he was checking something, hurtling through information until he finally said, “You don’t know how hard it was to trust Ross.”

That hurt, like a jab to the side. It stunned and sliced away at his resolve. “Yeah, I know. Let’s not repeat any mistakes. Any of them.” He clasped Steve’s arm again and the faceplate dropped into place. Friday reported the movements of the guards as they slipped down a narrow maintenance passage. Large servers blinked, their fans a constant hum. With the map of their escape route changing, Tony didn’t have a second to pay any attention to Steve. Luckily Steve remained at his side, didn’t argue about their route, and followed his silent directions without pause. 

“Boss, we’re coming up on a pair of guards. No way around them.”

“Good to know,” Tony said.

“What?” Steve asked but Tony shoved Steve behind him and inched forward to visualize the two guards on patrol, obviously searching for them. He needed to take them out without alerting the others. If their position was made, then they whole place would converge on them. 

“Friday is protocol 32-1 still in play?” Tony asked as he scanned the maintenance receiving area for the servers. If he didn’t know where he was he would have assumed he was in a large windowless warehouse. Crates lined the walls and fashioned a maze through the receiving area. All Tony had to do was get across the open space and then open the wide doors to the landing bay. It wasn’t that far. The passageway through the servers allowed them to avoid all of the roaming guards.

“No. They’ve overridden your orders and are trying to shut down the backdoor.”

“Do they know it’s me?”

“Boss, who else would it be?”

Tony shrugged. “Well, it is Ross. He is an ass.” No time to lose then. He checked the servers behind and then nearly kicked himself for being so stupid. Jerking Steve around they went back into the server stacks. “Find me the servers switch panels.” From his vantage point, finding it would be like the proverbial needle in a haystack. Friday mapped out the direction immediately based on his original design plans for the Raft. “This way.”

The servers buzzed as they passed, the lights on the panels flickering blind eyes at them. As they cross over to the designated row of servers, Friday alerted him to incoming guards. With a quick motion, Tony grabbed Steve and pushed him into the shadows near the largest stack. The guards loitered at the opposite end of the stack, arguing about whether or not this was a drill or the real deal. Tony sighed. What idiots. When the alert went out to regroup at the command center, the two guards continued down the passageway and disappeared. Tony released a pent up breath and they jogged down to the end of the row.

“I need you to stand guard while I access the server. I should be able to get in and out without them noticing but the fact is – they’re on to me and I don’t know if they’ve initiated any of the lock out protocols.”

Steve agreed and went to the very end of the row. He nodded and then peered out into the main passageway. For a second, Tony froze. The stark figure of Captain America, nearly bald, thin, beaten hit him. But it wasn’t the fact that he was Captain America – but Steve – Steve Rogers – Tony’s Steve. The one who’d stupidly thought that martyring himself would be the right way to go in a world turned upside down by extremists. Tony knew he had blame to carry as well. Creating Ultron set them on a path of destruction, though he still stood by his decision. Trying to protect the fragile Earth would always be a noble pursuit. Maybe his method needed refinement and input from those he loved – maybe next time he would get it right.

There wouldn’t be a next time if he didn’t get them the fuck out of there. So, he tapped into the server after he pulled out the small keyboard and retracted his gauntlets. The tiny interface only had a screen as big as his phone. It answered his commands beautiful like a well behaved dog. He snickered. Ross was out of his mind if he thought he could outsmart Tony. A few strokes and he found the central computer memory. He accessed it and then input commands to blind Ross to their movements.

“Boss, I got bad news.”

“What’s that,” Tony said and finished up. He pressed the enter button. It should slow them down. 

“They opened the auxillary emergency ballast drainage system.”

“What the fuck?” Flooding the main level of the prison would fucking ruin the servers and put the landing bay in jeopardy. The emergency drainage system was only to be used during a castrophic failure of the Raft prison to get it to the surface faster. That was the one thing in their favor. The Raft would ascend faster. 

“Friday, how long do we have?”

“Ten seconds before release of the water.”

He hissed and then said, “Give me a count down.”

“You got it boss. Ten.”

“Steve!” Tony said, and Steve jolted around to focus on Tony. “Come on.”

Steve raced toward him, still bare foot, still bare chested. Tony wished he could do something about it, because very soon they would need to tread fucking cold water. Tony secured his hand on Steve’s arm, ordering the nanites of the suit not to let go. The nanites formed a seal around Steve’s wrist – shackling them together.

“Nine, eight.”

“Come on this way,” Tony said, and Steve followed. He stumbled and that worried Tony but he didn’t have time to sympathize or even care that Steve had gone down hard on his knee only to be dragged back up without stopping. It occurred to Tony that the amount of food they’d pumped into Steve probably amounted to enough to keep him producing serum and not much more. It had been established some time ago that the Erskine serum actually changed Steve’s genetic code, and the serum constantly renewed itself. Steve literally was a human machine for the serum and bleeding him of it was like milking a prized cow. 

“Seven, six. Boss, up ahead. Three guards with assault rifles.”

“Son of a bitch,” Tony said and with only one gauntlet available. He raised his armored hand as he protected Steve and fired. Two shots hit the guards in the chest and they toppled. The third guard let off a round and Tony scurried with Steve by his side down the open passage to the first set of crates in the receiving area. 

“Five, four.”

“Mister Stark, Secretary Ross will give you one chance to surrender before releases the emergency ballasts,” the guard yelled and then lit up the small path through the crates with gunfire. The pinging of the bullets against the metal crates resounded in the enclosed area. 

“You can tell Ross to go to hell,” Tony said. They were in the corner of the receiving room. Too far away from the landing bay to make it to the helicopter. Steve shook his head.

“Tony, please, don’t do this,” Steve said. “I can say I forced you-.”

“Fuck that!” Tony replied, and his faceplate opened. “Do you understand I love you? Do you get that I don’t want to lose you? Try again, Spangles.”

“I hid the truth from you,” Steve said, and Tony saw him grasping at straws. Did this man that he loved really only want to die? Was life in the 21st century that horrible for him that he could only wish for death and sacrifice himself for others all the time? 

“For fuck’s sake, really now? You want to tell me that now? Again?” Tony said and sent off a round of repulsor fire to keep the guard at bay.

“Boss, he’s been joined by another six guards. Three.”

“God damn it,” Steve said. His eyes were wide and brutal. “Tony, this isn’t worth it. I’m not going to let you do this. You can’t survive in here.”

“Jesus Christ, and you can?” More the guards shot another volley of fire power making it impossible for them to cross over the open space. It might have been the Grand Canyon. 

“Two, boss. Get out of there!” Friday warned. “One.”

The horns blew and the klaxons roared as the red warning lights went off. Everything turned blood red and Tony turned to Steve. “Hold on. Don’t let go!” 

Steve nodded, because at this point he had no other choice. The ballasts opened and then whole of the Raft shuddered as if it was a giant sea serpent awakened from a century’s slumber. Tony yelled over the noise as the guards scattered in a panic. “The servers are being closed off. This is the receiving bay and serves as a back up flood plane. The emergency ballast flood uses this space.” Tony indicated the server stacks as walls suddenly emerged from the floor to close off the circuitry from the danger of water. 

It started then.

A wall of water.

The vents above them opened and water released, cascading down in a rage of rapids. Tony wrapped his free arm around Steve as the rush of water crashed to the floor and a tidal wave of frigid water hit them. The force of it nearly threw Steve from his grasp but the nanites held and they slid across the floor as the waves smacked against the walls. 

“Friday, turn on external plate heating.” He embraced Steve as the water slammed into them. On the HUD, Tony read the temperature as -1 Celsius. Fucking cold. The crush of water poured down on them. Tony and Steve scrambled back to their feet and hurried across the space to get to the landing bay. The water rose as it filled the maintenance and receiving bay. At least Tony knew his program into the main computer would disable Ross’ ability to fool with the helicopter.

“Stay close,” Tony commanded as he headed toward the landing bay. The doors to the bay would seal in the next minute as the water increased in the maintenance area. Surprisingly, Steve kept up with Tony as they slogged through the rapidly rising water level. It swirled around them already up to their knees. The current tugged at them, though Tony had the suit and it kept him easily on his feet. Steve gripped Tony, using him as a life line. He went down only to be carried away with the current and toppled Tony along with him. 

“Friday, emergency braking mechanism. Now!” The nanites shifted around his abdomen to anchor him in place. With his gauntlet connected to Steve’s wrist, Tony hauled him back and then heaved both of them to their feet. “Friday do not let them lock us out!” he ordered as they made their way across the space. The water rose at an amazing speed. Any minute and they would be swept away again. He’d thought they were home free but then the doors to the landing bay opened. He knew from the design that the landing bay had floor drains that would stream the water out to the ocean and not flood the compartment. As the water rushed to the lowest point, they tumbled and were carried with the current again only to be greeted by guards and a hail of bullets. 

They rolled in concert away from the fire storm and took up position behind the crates. Tony returned fire. In response the guards scattered but didn’t surrender. Water continued to rush into the landing bay only to be drained away by the grates in the floor. 

As he sent off an array of rockets from his shoulder armor, Tony called to Friday, “Get the copter started up.” He switched over to the hand linked to Steve. “Gauntlet protocol 515.” The gauntlet unwrapped from his hand and arms and the nanites slithered onto Steve’s hand and arm. 

Steve winced once but quickly adjusted as the nanites finished building the armor. 

“Since you don’t have the internal nerve link up, you’ll need to shoot manually-.” A spray of bullets pinged against the crate they hid behind, and Tony returned a suppressing round. He turned back to Steve. “See this on the palm across from the thumb?” Steve nodded. “Push your thumb into it to fire.”

“There’re two snipers up near the command center,” Steve said and pointed. “I’ll take them as you go to the helicopter.”

“Are you sure? You haven’t even fired that yet?” Tony yelled over the rush of water. 

“I’ll take them out to clear a path for you.” Steve outstretched his hand and shot one test toward the inner part of the maintenance bay. It ricocheted, and he staggered backward. “It’s gotta kick.”

Tony smiled. God, he loved it when the Brooklyn accent came out. “Let’s go.”

The water drifted higher as the secondary ballasts went through their emergency release. The water would drain out as the Raft rose to the surface. Great grates on the floor of the landing bay funneled the water to the ocean outside the structure. Tony gave a nod to Steve and then took off. He needed to get to the helicopter as well as cover Steve’s escape since he had the armor. So, he marched forward, then lit the keys of his boots to fly into the landing bay. He flew low to draw their fire. Blasts scorched the armor but the nanites went into overdrive repairing and stitching the plating back together. As Steve entered the landing bay, Friday reported to Tony that the Raft had breached the surface. 

“Bring the copter online.” He curved around the room and the shower of bullets followed him. A few of the guards aimed at Steve but he’d already taken out or neutralized the snipers. All they had to worry about was ground level attacks. Or that’s what Tony hoped as he looped down low to pop off another round of fire. Steve bent and slipped behind some packing crates as the helicopter whirled to life. 

Over the intercom, Ross ordered, “Stand down Stark or I will have every law enforcement official looking for your ass!”

Tony spied him in the observation deck of the command center. “And oh, what a cute ass it is.” He turned serious. “Go ahead. Because right now on news outlets all over the world information on the United States and SHIELD’s part in my parents’ deaths and other deaths around the globe is being released. How Hydra used SHIELD and US assets to upset and destabilize countries like Sokovia-.”

Ross grabbed at the microphone. “You wouldn’t dare. That’s treasonous.”

“That’s patriotic,” Tony spat back. He buzzed right up to the front of the observation window. “You are responsible. You and people like you for my parents’ deaths not a good soldier who was brainwashed and tortured.” He raised his one gauntlet hand. “I should blast you into tomorrow!”

“Just try it and you’ll spend the rest of your life in a place worse than this,” Ross growled out. 

“No. Because I want to watch as the world humiliates you.” Tony flew back to the landing bay and joined Steve who crouched down next to the delivered crates. He’d gotten off several shots to the guards surrounding them. “You ready to go?”

Steve smiled. “Ready when you are.”

Tony grabbed him by the waist and darted toward the helicopter. They both raised their gauntlets to defend their getaway, spinning as they flew and shooting at the same time. Explosions ringed the landing bay as guards returned their barrage with heavy artillery. 

“They got grenades!” Steve yelled. They landed and then ducked under the rotors of the helicopter. 

“Idiots,” Tony remarked as he tapped his chest and the nanites receded. He hopped into the helicopter as Steve shot off repulsor fire to stop the guards from following them. Tony shoved Steve in and closed the copter door. “Friday, we need the Bay door open now!” 

The guards closed in as they waited like sitting ducks. “Here they come,” Steve said and prepared to defend their position. A dozen guards swarmed the helicopter just outside the span of the rotors. A good hit in the engines and they were done. 

“Fire!” The command came. 

The landing bay thundered with the sounds of the assault. The helicopter started off its pad as the door above them yawned open. The windshield broke in blossoms of starred cracks. The vehicle wavered as it lifted from the landing pad. Tony directed Steve.

“Get in this seat. Switch now.” Tony stood up and yanked Steve out of the copilot seat. Steve fell into the chair. “When I say so push your index finger into that silver disc on the arm rest, got it?”

“Yeah!” Thank God he didn’t question it. The helicopter rocked in the air as the tail section took a blast. 

As it lurched into the gray clouded sky it swayed back and forth and then Steve screamed a warning, “Grenade launcher!” He leaned against the windshield, his face pressed tight to see the clearance of the landing bay. 

“Crap!” Tony hit Steve in the chest and pressed him back in the chair. “Lean back and hit the disc as you do.”

“Tony, I-.”

“Just do it!” Tony replied as he heard the telltale explosion and whine of a launcher being engaged. 

Steve grimaced but shoved backward in the seat and pressed the disc. The armor grew outward and encompassed him. He gave a little shout of surprise. 

“Boss, three second to impact!” Friday said as the helicopter fought to rise above the Raft and battled against the oncoming storm of the seas. 

Tony threw open the side door as the armor finished covering Steve and then dropped him into the air. Tony jumped and slammed a palm against his chest. The nanites spread over his chest as he lunged toward the open seas. Swooping toward him Steve grabbed his arm and blocked him from the helicopter as the grenade slammed into it. The ball of fire, bright and orange against the steel gray sky, detonated outward. It rained down upon the Raft. 

The nanites finished their work and Steve released him. “Sweetheart, meet Jocasta. Jocasta meet your match!”

“We’ll see about that!” Jocasta said through the comms. 

Steve laughed – clear and true- as they surged upward into the heavens. Jocasta would pilot the suit and Tony programmed the AI to follow his lead, but Steve must have said something because they twisted around and did wide loops in the air. “This is fantastic!”

Tony couldn’t reprimand him, couldn’t say a word because Steve sacrificed everything and for the last month had been under the treatment of a madman beholden to a defunct Nazi organization. So, he flew and watched and laughed and celebrated as they found their way to freedom. 

CNN: _Documents have corroborated Tony Stark’s assertion of the involvement of SHIELD aka Hydra and parts of the US government acting under the direction of Hydra in the deaths not only of Starks parents but in multiple high profile deaths throughout the world. Additional information shows that Hydra not only infiltrated the US government but several other powerful nations throughout the world. It is not known the extent of the damage at this time._

_In other news Sokovia has petitioned the UN to reverse the resolution naming Captain America aka Steve Rogers as a war criminal. Sokovia has extended its apologizes to the Captain. The US government has yet to issue an apology for its treatment of Captain Rogers while in custody._

_The UN has issued a statement recognizing the avengers for their selfless acts of bravery in defense of the planet and the helpless. In addition, while the UN does not condone the construction of Ultron it does acknowledge the need for a planetary defense system. The UN has assigned the Avengers to the working group ordered to put together the first global defense declaration and formal committee. The Sokovia government has put forward a motion to have the headquarters of the planetary defense committee in their new capital. Stark Industries has promised to fund the construction of the new headquarters in Sokovia._

Steve walked along the edge of the pond. It was only a short distance from the construction site, but the ducks and geese ignored the hustle and bustle of the noisy building. The pond wasn’t large enough to boat on, but it offered a kind of sanctuary to all the chaos around him in his new Sokovian home. Who would have guessed he would find this out of the way nation a place of security and peace? As he strolled along the banks of the pond watching the duck with her ducklings paddle toward the opposite shore, Steve stopped and took in the darkness of the water, the full green bloom of Spring around him. It took some months to right everything, to get the world to brush off the dust from the upheavals but it felt like they were on the right path for the first time in a long time. A light breeze shifted ripples on the surface of the pond and he shivered a bit, remembering. 

“What’d I tell you about coming out here without a jacket?”

Steve peered over his shoulder to look at Tony as he sauntered down the grassy knoll. He had one hand in his suit pant’s pocket and the other swinging casually by his side. He wore sunglasses. Steve smiled at him. 

“It’s a perfectly warm day.” Steve estimated it was probably about 50 degrees Fahrenheit- though he should start thinking in Celsius considering he was now living in Europe on grounds now deemed internationally neutral. It was funny to think it took an underwater prison and the love of his life to find out that home had nothing to do with the star he sometimes wore on his chest. 

“I don’t like you being cold,” Tony said and reached out his hand. Steve grasped it bringing the knuckles to his lips for a kiss. 

“I’m not cold. Not here,” Steve said. In a whisper he added, “You're home now. I’m not cold at all.”

Tony winked at him and spun on his heel to look up at the construction of the new headquarters. “Home. Think this will be home for us?”

Steve couldn’t help the warmth of his smile. “For us. Yes. Anywhere and everywhere together.” Images of kissing Tony, making love to Tony came to mind and the permanence of their time together. He’d once lamented the fact that his skin couldn’t scar or hold the memory of a kiss. Yet, now his heart beat differently. His vision clarified. His hands longed to touch just one person, always. The permanence of Tony upon his life marked him in the subtlest yet most profound way. 

Tony turned to smile at him, their hands still linked together. Permanence and forever were captured in his gaze. Steve understood that now, and he brought Tony into his embrace. Love changed him, made him a different man, made him a better man. A mark meant nothing in light of the permanence of love.

The end.


End file.
